Demarest's Dirt Roads Are Almost Gone. Drainage Is Next.

"The last dirt road in Demarest to be approved for paving." That is how Mayor Brian Bernstein described Pine Terrace in his October 2, 2026 weekly update. In the same update he wrote that paving on every remaining dirt road, Pine Terrace included, will be finished in the spring of 2027.

The next paragraph of that update set the next goal. With the last unimproved roads now fully funded, the mayor asked the Finance Committee to consider making drainage upgrades the priority in coming budgets. He called it "a planned pivot from paving to drainage infrastructure upgrades." The two items are closely connected. As the borough paved its gravel streets, the questions residents raised kept coming back to water: where it pools, where it runs, and what a new paved surface does to it. Demarest's dirt-road program is ending with the same subject the next program is proposed to tackle.

The Last Stretches, Street by Street

The paving program has run across two seasons of mayoral updates. By the June 27, 2025 update, a long list of streets had been finished, with more on deck.

Weather slowed the program early on. "This spring's constant rain has wreaked havoc on the Borough's paving schedules," the mayor wrote in June 2025. Stelfox was also held up by utilities underground. PSE&G had finished its work, Veolia was scheduled to move the water line on July 2, and paving could only resume after that. Brenner, Evergreen, Donnybrook and Prospect were also on the upcoming list in that update.

Pine Terrace appears in both years. A paved section was done in June 2025. The 2026 updates refer specifically to the "unimproved portion" of Pine Terrace. Many of these streets are only partly dirt, and the gravel stretch is what's left over. Orchard, Wellwood, Forest and Prescott are all described the same way.

What Paving a Dirt Road Involves

Paving a gravel stretch means more than laying asphalt over it. The road gets a new width, a new alignment and new edges. Borough Engineer Nick Chelius showed this at the July 28, 2025 Mayor and Council meeting, where he presented concept plans for the unimproved portions of Wellwood and Orchard roads.

The first Wellwood concept used a 22-foot cartway. The others used 24 feet, which the meeting minutes describe as a standard width. Each option came with tradeoffs. Some put sections of an existing gas main directly under the proposed curb, which could mean moving the gas main. Some needed solar lights moved at a home on Wellwood. Several had to accept substandard curb radii where Wellwood meets Hardenburgh Avenue so an existing utility pole could stay where it is. One option kept every utility clear of the curb, but it pushed the road furthest toward neighboring properties, by up to 8.9 feet.

Orchard Road got a different treatment. The engineering team drew a "best fit" line along the existing roadway, so the road shifts within the right-of-way instead of sitting at an even offset. The minutes explain why. The properties and their landscaping and curbs "are all over the place," and the team "felt this would change the characteristic of the roadway the least." That option needed no pole relocations and three tree removals. The plan could also be narrowed to a 22-foot cartway, which would cut each disturbance by a foot. The alternative, centering the road exactly in the right-of-way, would have encroached more on neighboring properties and been "significantly more expensive."

The goal stated in the minutes is a paved road that still looks like the road it replaced.

What Orchard Road Asked

When the Council opened the meeting to public comment on the Orchard and Wellwood plans, Orchard Road residents came with specific questions. The minutes record them in this order.

1. How the turn radius would work, whether the footbridge would be affected, and what would happen where water already pools at the end of a driveway.
2. What curb was proposed. Mr. Chelius said laid-back Belgian block.
3. Whether runoff would reach the stream. Mr. Chelius said it generally would, and that drainage would be handled in the design phase.
4. Whether a paved surface would bring more speeding.
5. What the pitch of the new road would be.
6. One more drainage concern, from a resident who did not give a full name.

Three of the six questions named water outright: pooling at a driveway, runoff to the stream, and drainage. A fourth asked about the pitch of the new road. Mr. Chelius said he would note every spot residents had flagged and work with Mr. Gangi to review the parts of the road that commonly flood.

The fire department raised a concern of its own. Deputy Fire Chief Pavlik asked the Council to keep in mind that if the road is not wide enough, emergency vehicles may have trouble turning around. The Council asked Mr. Chelius to go ahead with the plans that are least intrusive on residents and save as many trees as possible while still leaving proper width for emergency vehicles. An on-site meeting with the Fire Chief was set to decide the final width.

That direction sets the pattern for the rest of the program. Trees, water and fire access are weighed together, and each road is designed around the properties along it. In 2026 the Council's resolution list included a contract item for the 2025 unimproved roads work on Orchard and Wellwood.

Pine Terrace, Last in Line

Pine Terrace followed a similar process. According to the October 9, 2026 weekly update, residents of the street had met with the mayor about the project. Proposed designs for the unimproved portion were scheduled for review at the Mayor and Council meeting on Tuesday, October 13, at 7:30 p.m. The update noted that Monday was a holiday. Residents were invited to ask more questions and comment "before the Council takes action," and the meeting was open to the public.

The schedule the mayor has given is that all the dirt roads, Pine Terrace included, will be paved by spring 2027. By next spring, if that holds, no gravel will be left on Demarest's public streets.

From Pavement to Pipes

In the October 2 update, Mayor Bernstein explained why he wants future budgets to focus on drainage. "Our weather has gotten more extreme, storms are more frequent and more severe, presenting a challenge to our drainage system." He wrote that many parts of town would benefit from upgrades and that the borough is working with its engineers and road department to find the areas that need them most.

He also proposed paying for it in a new way. The mayor recommended that the Finance Committee and Council set up a Storm and Emergency Trust Fund, which he calls the SET Fund. It would hold money for storm cleanup, emergency repairs, hazardous tree removal, employee overtime and other costs from storms and emergencies. The money would stay available even when regular department budgets are frozen or restricted.

The proposed seed money comes from another downtown project. The borough has executed a $1.66 million purchase-and-sale agreement for the former Bank building at 129 Hardenburgh Avenue, and the mayor has proposed putting $300,000 of the proceeds into the SET Fund to start. Concept plans for the building's mixed-use redevelopment, which include underground parking, still go to the Economic Development Committee first and then to the full Council at a public meeting. The SET Fund and the shift to drainage are still recommendations, and the Council has not voted on them.

The update gives a reason why a local fund matters. Recent storms have been "very localized," the mayor wrote, so less state and county money, or none, is available to help with costs that otherwise fall on Demarest taxpayers. The borough has already taken a first step, adding funding for sewer and water infrastructure repairs to the 2026 budget.

Underground work will also continue on a separate track. On October 16, the borough posted a notice of a PSE&G Demarest gas pipe upgrade, labeled as a 180-day notice for a new project. The utility delays on Stelfox in 2025 are a reminder that work under the street can push back work on top of it.

The mayor asked residents with a drainage concern they haven't yet reported to contact the borough so the area can be evaluated. For questions about a specific road project, the June 2025 update listed the Borough Administrator at 201-768-0167 x147.

New curbs, a road's pitch and where water drains are part of how a home sits on its street. If you have questions about how changes like these affect your own property, I'm glad to talk them through with you. Mia Hur. Let's Connect.